Big 4 audit vs small boutique investment bank (for IB)
So I'm currently at a T50 school studying business administration and planning to transfer to schools like Cornell and Vanderbilt to study Econ next year. I have a decent GPA but lack of activities/work experiences in the finance/business field. I was just wondering if having an internship experience in audit at a Big Four (let's say PwC) would be better than a financial analyst intern at a small boutique a financial advisory firm (Goldenstem Capital), in terms of transferring to prestigious college for econ major and landing an IB job in the future.
Which one will be more helpful for both a college transfer application and future career in IB? Any suggestions?
Thank you!
My west coast non target is very much a target for the Big 4, so tons of students get audit and deal advisory internships through OCR. No one who’s broken into banking from here did it without a freshman or sophomore boutique IB internship, though. And very few of them did any internships at the Big 4 because of the timeline.
I started interning at a 10 man shop the beginning of second year and it was a great experience. I would go with the bank if you’re shooting for the banking route long term.
Thank you!
What did the students who took on Big 4 deals advisory do afterwards? Was it much more difficult to get a FT offer after?
It really depends on the small boutique. If it was a firm like Goldenstem, you would clearly have better success trying to leverage Big 4 experience. Aside from zero name recognition, you aren't going to get any reps that you need and the "founders" are not going to start bringing in deals or provide an ability for you to build your skill set.
Thank you for the advice! Because this is gonna be my first job and I’m going for IB for career, I’m just worried that this audit work experience won’t help a lot. I heard that people who break into the IB usually have worked as an intern at a regional boutique IB in their freshman/sophomore year.
That early on, it doesn't matter and if you can get Big 4 accounting experience that would be more beneficial than working for a no name that doesn't operate like MMs/EBs/BBs.
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